The Time Between
by Sapphire4002
Summary: This is my take on what happened during the time period between the end of the final battle and when Ed and Al return to Resembool (plus a little extra).
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is the first fanfic I've ever written, so I hope you like it!

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 **(Disclaimer: I do not own fullmetal alchemist or fullmetal alchemist brotherhood)**

 **Chapter 1**

After saying their goodbyes to Mei, Ling, and Lan Fan, Ed and Al slowly walked back over to where many of the people involved in the battle were still gathered. Before they had a chance to speak to anyone else Major Armstrong blocked their path followed by Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye.

"You two boys look like you need medical attention." the Major stated "I will be escorting you both along with the Colonel and Lieutenant to the hospital immediately."

"Um.. yeah.. Ok." Ed replied.

When they got into a car, Major Armstrong turned it on and started driving. Ed looked at Alphonse and saw his eyes get bigger and bigger.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The vibrations feel really weird after nearly five years." Al said.

Ed laughed "well you better get used to it, because as soon as you're strong enough we're getting on a train and heading home to Resembool."

Al smiled at the thought of finally going home in his own body.

Suddenly Mustang spoke up,

"You know Alphonse, it's odd hearing your voice without it echoing in that suit of armour."

Ed replied, "oh yeah that's right, you didn't know us until you came to offer me a position as a state alchemist."

"Speaking of that position Fullmetal," the Colonel started,

"I assume you will be turning in your state certification now that you've accomplished your goal?"

"You bet I am. I can't wait to be free after all time! Though I will miss throwing my weight around."

"You could always stay in the military" Mustang said with a grin

"And have you continue bossing me around for the rest of my life? Noooo thank you!"

"Heh if you insist."

When they got to the hospital everyone inside seemed a bit confused and at first Ed wondered why then he remembered, _oh yeah, they all just got sucked into a philosopher's stone and then got spit out of it, of course they would seem a little off._

A few hours later, after Al had cleaned himself up as much a he could and braided his hair back for the time being until he could get it cut, Ed and Al sat on beds in a hospital room and Ed noticed that Al was intently staring at the door. In any other situation Ed would have laughed at someone for looking like they were going to burst with excitement waiting for food, especially hospital food, but this would be the first time Al had tasted anything in almost five years. At last they heard a knock on their door and one of the nurses came in with two trays of food. Before she left, the nurse reminded Al to eat slowly so that he wouldn't hurt his stomach from eating too much all at once.

Once the nurse had left Al looked down at the food and couldn't have looked happier.

"What are you waiting for?" Ed asked "Eat already! You've spent five years looking at food so now eat it."

"Alright I'm just taking in the moment"

"well you can take it in while you eat"

Alphonse grabbed a piece of bread and bit into it. As soon as he did it his face lit up even more (if that was even possible).

"Well?" Ed asked

"This hospital food tastes like the best thing ever!"

"Just wait till we get home and have Winry's apple pie."

"I almost forgot about that! This keeps getting better and better!" Al cheered.

A week later Al still got excited every time the food came and was starting to gain some weight back. Ed however was less enthusiastic about their stay especially since at the moment he could barely move his right arm due to having had the leftover automail pieces removed a few days prior.

When Ed woke up one morning and found that Al was nowhere in the room. He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room and started looking around for his brother. Finally his search lead him to the roof where he found him sitting looking at the horizon where the sun was rising. Ed let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He walked over and sat down next to Al,

"Can't you tell me if you're going to disappear before I run around looking for you?"

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you."

"Whatever."

"Anyway we should probably head back down before we're both found missing." He said a few minutes later.

"Yeah"

After they had spent two weeks in the hospital Ed had grown more than restless and even Al was getting eager to do something.

They had been visited by several people including teacher, and what seemed like half the military, and too their great surprise Jean Havoc… walking on two legs, and Colonel Mustang (who had been released a couple days prior) … who was no longer blind.

"Wait I thought that Lust paralyzed your legs!" Ed was completely confuzzled "And I KNOW that you lost your eyesight to Truth! What is going on here!"

"Well you see.." Mustang started

"Dr. Marcoh had a philosopher's stone and offered to heal us out in order to help us restore Ishval." Havoc stated bluntly

Ed looked like he was battling himself inside over whether to be angry at them for using a philosopher's stone or glad that they were back to normal. He settled with telling them one thing

"If you used a philosopher's stone you better do what you say you're gonna do and restore Ishval."

"And that's exactly what I plan to do. In fact with in the next few months I plan to be taking my men to Ishval and begin working."

"Good." Ed said

Mustang turned to leave, but then paused and looked over his shoulder at Alphonse Elric.

"By the way Alphonse, it's good to finally see you in person!" he said and smiled at him.

"It's good to see you too Colonel" Alphonse smiled back

Finally after another slow week in the hospital Ed was finally released, but Al was kept there for another week. One one the first things Ed did was head over to the Hughes' house. When he got there he knocked on the door and a few moments later in was open by little Elicia Hughes closely followed by her mother.

"Well if it isn't Edward Elric, the hero everyone's talking about" Mrs. Hughes greeted him

"Hey Mrs. Hughes" Ed replied

"Please, come in"

"Thank you"

Mrs. Hughes showed him to the living room and then went into the kitchen to start some tea. Elicia sat down on the couch across from Edward and started swinging her legs. When Mrs. Hughes came back with the tea she handed Ed a cup and then say down next to her daughter.

"So what brings you here Edward? And where is Alphonse?" Mrs. Hughes asked.

"Well you may have heard that Al got his body back and that I now have my right arm." he started

"That's great" Mrs. Hughes said

"Of course after almost five years stuck in that portal Al's body is exactly in very good shape, so he's still at the hospital."

"That's too bad. I hope he's not too down about that."

"Oh not at all he's just glad he finally has his body back and can finally feel things and eat again."

"I'm sure he is."

"Actually I came to ask a you a favor.."

"Hmm?"

"When we stayed with you a while back you had made a quiche for dinner, Al obviously couldn't have any but mentioned that it was one of the things he'd like to try when he got his body back. So I thought I would come over here and ask you to make it since he's only had hospital food to eat for the past three weeks"

"Of course I'll make it for him! In fact Elicia and I will bring it over later today."

"Thanks a lot Mrs. Hughes. I hope it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all" she said with a smile.

"I better get going now, but thanks for having me."

"You're welcome here anytime Edward."

"Bye!" Ed called as he walked out the door

"Come back soon!" Elicia called

"I will don't worry"

 _Well I got that done,_ Ed thought as he walked through town, _now I just have one more thing I need to do before heading back._

Ed walked back into the hospital room and sat down in a chair next to Al's bed.

"You've been gone awhile." Al pointed out

"I've been stuck here for three weeks, what did you expect me to do."

"I don't know may be stay here and keep your brother company." Al said pretending to be upset. "What did you do anyway?" Al asked in a serious tone this time.

"Went to go turn in my state certification." Ed said casually.

"Oh? Did the Colonel give you trouble?" Al asked with a smirk

"Well this is the Colonel we're talking about Al… OF COURSE HE DID! But not as much as I gave him." he said smugly

Ed remembered, only about an hour ago, standing in Mustang's office

" _You sure about this?" Mustang asked "You can still keep the certification."_

" _Yep!" Ed said "besides I don't think I can remain a state alchemist, considering I can no longer use alchemy, genius."_

" _That's too bad. I'll miss having my little puppy around."_

 _Ed's antenna stood straight up._

" _Well I won't miss being stuck working for you." Ed shot back and started walking out. "And by the way… you're no taller than I am so drop the_ _little puppy_ _stuff. Got it little sparky?"_

" _I'll burn your tongue off if I ever hear you call me that again!" Mustang with a death glare_

 _Ed smirked, having officially called Colonel Mustang little._

" _See ya around Colonel sparky!"_

" _Fullmetal!"_

" _Oh and by the way, since I'm no longer a state alchemist, you can get used to referring to me by my actual name."_

 _And with that he walked out of the office and head back to the hospital._

Just then they heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Al called.

The door opened and Mrs. Hughes walked in holding a bag followed by a smiling Elicia.

"Good evening Alphonse." she said.

"Good evening Mrs. Hughes. What brings you here?"

"Well earlier today your brother stopped by and made a request."

Alphonse looked at Ed with a slightly confused look on his face. Ed grinned. They looked back toward Mrs. Hughes as she reached into her bag and pulled the quiche baked in a disposable pie pan. Al's face lit up.

"Is that what I think it is?" Al asked looking back and forth between Mrs. Hughes and Ed.

"Yes it is Alphonse" Mrs. Hughes said. "Your brother came and asked me to make it for you so that you could finally have something besides hospital food." she smiled at them both

"Thank you so much!" Al looked like he was about to burst with excitement as she set the quiche down on the table in front of him.

"You're very welcome!" she said

Al took a bite and when he had barely swallowed exclaimed,

"This is even better than I could've imagined!"

Mrs. Hughes and Elicia hadn't stayed long, but during the time Elicia had figured out that Al was the person who had been in the armor and then stated that Ed was now the big brother and Al was the little brother, much to Ed's pleasure.

" _Finally"_ Ed had thought to himself

Before they had left Ed once again thanked Mrs. Hughes and told how much it really meant to them. She had smiled and once again told them that it was no problem and that she was glad her cooking brought Al so much joy.

Now it was getting late and Ed decided to leave and spend the night at a hotel. The next week seemed rather slow, especially since they both knew that once Al was released and gotten used to walking again, they would be headed home to Resembool.

At last the day came. As Ed and Al walked out of the hospital (a bit slowly due to Al still having some trouble) Al breathed in the fresh(ish) air and smiled as they walked down the street.

"Alright first!" Ed said, "I assume you'd like to get your hair cut short instead of keeping my hair style.

"Your assumption would be correct." Al said

A few days later Ed and Al were walking around the city (to build up Al's strength) when suddenly Alphonse just collapsed into a bench on the side of the street.

"Are you ok?" Ed asked concerned

Breathing heavily Al replied "y… yeah… sorry I know we've only been walking for ten minutes but I can't go much further right now."

"Ok" Ed said sitting down next to Al and looking up at the sky, looked back down across the street and saw a cafe. "Hungry?" he asked Al.

"Umm… not very." Al replied.

"Let me rephrase that, can you eat food right now?"

"I mean I could, but I don't need anything."

"Too bad we're eating at that cafe."

Ed got up and Al (who had now caught his breath) followed him.

Ed had been doing this ever since he had gotten out of the hospital. Whenever he saw food, whether Al was actually hungry or not which was a rare occurrence now, Ed would practically force him to eat despite his protests that he was fine.

"You know brother, you don't need to constantly be feeding me." Al laughed.

Ed gave him a look that said 'really'

"What?" Al asked

"I can still see every one of your ribs, even under your shirt."

Al looked down, and sure enough under his light blue shirt you could see all his ribs, but considering how thin he had been about a month ago he looked pretty good. Along with his light blue shirt, he wore khaki pants, and his hair was cut to the same style he had before he lost his body. His arms and legs still were sickly thin but his skin, wasn't clinging to his bones anymore, and although you could see his ribs, he had gained enough weight so that his stomach came out to just behind his bottom ribs.

"Well I guess you're not giving me a choice." Al said

This treatment lasted almost two more weeks until Al no longer looked sickly, thin, but not sickly.

...

Author's Note: Please review and let me know what you think, and also if there's anything I need to fix/work on in the future.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Here's the second chapter where Ed and Al return home and Al finally gets to eat Winry's apple pie! I had this written earlier when I posted the first chapter but didn't have time to post it. I hope you enjoy!

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 **(disclaimer: I do not own fullmetal alchemist or fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, sadly)**

 **Chapter 2**

It had been three weeks since Al had gotten out of the hospital. He could now walk for about an hour (with his cane) without needing to rest. Even though the walk from the train station home was a bit longer than that Al decided (and Ed gave in) that they should head back to Resembool soon, and sure enough, the next day they were on a train heading home.

Almost as soon as the train started moving, Al started going on about all of the different smells and feelings he had almost forgot existed.

"Well I'm going to sleep since we've got awhile before we get there." Ed said yawning. "You should probably too."

" I don't think I'll be able to." Al said. Although he looked fairly calm, it was obvious to Ed that he was excited, but he also knew that Al had been sleeping a lot since he got his body back.

 _He'll definitely fall asleep after within an hour of just sitting here._ Ed thought to himself.

Sure enough, only half an hour after the trip started both brothers were passed out in their seats.

Al woke up as the train was pulling into the station.

 _We're home!_ Al thought to himself.

He looked over at Ed who was still fast asleep in his seat. Al put his hand on Ed's shoulder and shook him.

"Brother wake up, we're here."

Ed just grunted and tried to go back to sleep. Al shook him again, this time more forcefully.

"C'mon we have to get off the train."

Ed lifted his arms up and stretched.

"Alright, fine, I guess we have to."

Ed and Al stepped out onto the platform and took in their surroundings.

"The country air smells so good." Al said

"Yeah." Ed agreed.

As they walked down the long dirt path Al only had to stop a couple times commenting on how he "hadn't realized just how much his muscles had atrophied on the other side."

While they were walking they talked about how they had made so many friends over the past few years and Ed teased Al about Mei to which Al came back with,

"But what about you, and Winry?"

Ed stopped in his tracks and looked ahead where he could see the house that was the closest thing he and Al had had to a home since they had burned down their childhood home. Al didn't press for an answer but kept walking.

"C'mon! Don't just stand there all day!"

They walked up to the front of the house the black and white do laying on the front porch looked up at them not seeming to recognize Al at all until Al called to him,

"Den! We're home boy!"

Upon hearing Al's voice the dog ran over and jumped on Al causing him to fall to the ground, and started licking him.

"Den, stop that tickles!" Al said laughing.

A few moments later Den jumped off of him and moved to the side Al got up and looked towards the front door which was now open with Winry Rockbell standing in the doorway staring at him and Ed. Then she ran towards them and hugged them causing all three of them to fall to the ground.

"Dummies." she said with tears in her eyes, "Welcome home!"

"Good to be back." Al said smiling back at her.

Once Winry let them both get up and they had walked into the house Winry started lecturing them trying to sound upset but was having trouble since she was so happy to see them.

"It has been two months since the promise day! You didn't call or write, the only way I knew you weren't dead is that the radio mentioned all the names of the people who did die!"

"Sorry Winry." both brothers said together.

"It's ok just make sure you don't worry me like that again."

"We promise." both brother said again in unison.

"By the way Winry… my leg is a little beat up…"

She gave him a look that said 'just how beat up?'

"But you don't need to worry about my arm anymore!" Ed said sounding enthusiastic

"Alright I'll work on it tomorrow." she said

"Tomorrow? Why not today?" Ed asked

Winry smiled and looked from Ed to Al, then said "Because I've got a apple pie to make! Right Al?"

"Yes please!" Al said smiling.

"Alright I guess I can wait." Ed said with a sigh.

A few hours later Winry walked out of the kitchen holding the pie she had been making while Ed and Al had gotten settled in. She set it down on the kitchen and set it down in the center of the table then cut it and pulled of the biggest piece and put in on a plate in front of Al.

"Enjoy!" she said smiling.

"Thanks Winry!" Al said before digging in. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" Al exclaimed after he had taken a bite and swallowed. "And not just in the past two months either."

"I'm glad you like it." Winry said smiling even more.

They ended up finishing the entire pie between them while Ed and Al filled her in on some of the things that had happened since they had left. Winry told them about how Hohenheim had come back and passed away in front of their mom's grave.

"Oh…" Al said looking a little sad, but Ed only momentarily looked surprised then grunted/sighed. It wasn't like this hugely impacted either of their lives since Hohenheim hadn't ever really been a father to them, but he was still their dad.

The mood shifted when Winry asked what happened between the people from Xing. They told her how greed had been ripped out of Ling and helped defeat Father, and how Fu had given his life to try and kill King Bradley. As well as tell her about how Ling got a philosopher's stone and promised to protect Mei's clan and all the other Xingese clans.

Once it started getting late Pinako (who had come in while they were talking and greeted Ed and Al) pointed out they should probably get to bed since they all looked half asleep anyway

Al laid in bed that night, grateful that he and Ed was finally home and could just relax. For once they weren't on the move they could just live their lives, and it would be another two years before they left Resembool to explore the world.

...

Author's note: Ok so this probably the end of this fanfic (sorry it's kinda short). I'm definitely going write some more but I don't know if I should write about the two years before they leave to travel the world or just jump to the when the leave Amestris, so please let me know what you think! please review tell me what you think.


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